‘13 Reasons Why’ cast address controversy surrounding show

By Emmy Griffiths

May 02, 2017

Katherine Langford and Dylan Minnette recently dropped by the Ellen DeGeneres Show to discuss the controversy surrounding their hit show 13 Reasons Why. The Netflix series centres around a 17-year-old who commits suicide and leaves a box of tapes explaining why she did it.

Ellen praised the show's depiction of high school, and told the pair: "I think it's amazing, I think the reason it's resonating is most people, not just teenagers, but most people watching it… have experienced some type of that abuse… and don't you feel like you're helping so many young people? I know there's a lot of controversy because people say there's a lot of heaviness in this show… so you're doing a service to parents to help them with their kids understanding this, don't you think?"

Dylan, who plays Hannah's love interest Clay Jenson on the show, agreed, saying: "The main goal I think, overall, is to start conversations we think are necessary to be had and to bring these issues to light and to show them in a real way. If people are talking about it then we've reached our goal because these conversations… people need to talk about this."

The story centres on Hannah

The pair also shared the moment that they realised the show had become a huge success, with Katherine revealing that Lady Gaga tweeted about her. "I feel like there was a really big moment for me like a week ago," she revealed. "I don't have Twitter but Lady Gaga tweeted at me like, reposted an interview where I was fangirling and wrote 'Katherine' with a love heart and I kind of freaked out a little bit." Dylan added: "If anyone knows Katherine, if we're doing an interview and someone says the word 'Lady Gaga' we have to take a minute." Ellen then treated the star to VIP passes for one of Lady Gaga's concerts as a birthday surprise.

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